Antrobus is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

and village in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, immediately to the south of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. It lies within the unitary authority of

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 str ...

, and has a population of 832, reducing to 791 at the 2011 Census. The parish is the most northeasterly point of Cheshire West and Chester, and as such borders both

and

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Co ...

. As well as Antrobus village centre itself, the parish includes other large hamlets at Frandley, about one mile south-west from the main village, and Crowley, about two miles to the north-east. The village shop and post office is owned and run cooperatively by the villagers for the benefit of the community having previously closed in 2003.

Etymology

The placename is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as ''Entrebus'', and in the Pipe Rolls of Cheshire of 1282 as ''Anterbus''. The derivation of the name is from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

personal name Eindrithi or Andrithi, with the Old Norse ''buski'' ("shrub, bush or thicket"), the whole name thus signifying "Andrithi's thicket".

History

Antrobus is listed as a township of

Great Budworth Great Budworth is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, north of Northwich off the A559 road, east of Comberbach, northwest of Higher Marston and southeast of Budworth Heath. Until 1948, Great Budworth was part of the Arley Hall es ...

parish on Cheshire's

tithe map The term tithe map is usually applied to a map of an English or Welsh parish or township, prepared following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836. This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods. The map and its accompanying schedule gave ...

, in the

Bucklow Hundred The hundred of Bucklow was an ancient division of the historic county of Cheshire, in northern England. It was known to have been in existence at least as early as 1260, and it was formed from the earlier Domesday hundreds of Bochelau and Tune ...

and under the deanery of

Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population was 8,982 in 2001, increasing to 9,077 at the 2011 Census. It is s ...

. In 1894, Antrobus became a parish in its own right and a part of the

Runcorn Rural District Runcorn was a rural district in Cheshire, England from 1894 until 1974. It was named after but did not include Runcorn, a town on the River Mersey to the north-west of the district, which formed its own urban district. The district was aboli ...

. In 1936, the neighbouring parishes of Crowley and Seven Oaks were abolished and brought under the control of Antrobus. Through the 20th century, usage of the term Seven Oaks to describe the south-west of Antrobus declined, and much of that area is now known as Frandley. Seven Oaks has become truncated to Sevenoaks and now refers to the small hamlet surrounding the former Sevenoaks Saddlery and sawmill at the northernmost end of Gibb Hill. The north-easternmost area of the parish was formerly taken up by a portion of the Arley estate, including all of the village of Arley itself, Crowley Hall Lodge and the surrounding farms. However, when

was abolished in 1974 Antrobus was moved into

Vale Royal A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipa ...

and neighbouring Aston by Budworth (within which the rest of the Arley estate was contained) was transferred into the borough of Macclesfield. This made the Antrobus portion the only remaining part of the estate not under Macclesfield's control. In 1978, for the ease of estate management and the paying of tax, Aston-by-Budworth Parish Council requested that the portion of Antrobus east of Arley Brook, Lodge Lane, and Caldwell's Gate Lane be transferred to their control. The village was struck by an F1/T3 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

Culture

Soul Cakers

Antrobus is well known for its Soul Cakers, who travel around the county performing a soul caking play annually between All Souls Night (October 31) and November 12. Based at their 'home pub', the Antrobus Arms, the Antrobus Soul Cakers have the longest unbroken run of soul caking performances in the world.

Religion

Anglicanism

Antrobus' Anglican St Mark's Church is located in the village centre. It was designed by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

and built in 1848. It is grade II listed.

Quakerism

Legend has it that in the 18th century an oak tree in Seven Oaks was where

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...

preached to over 2,000 people. On this site, besides the oak tree, now stands the Frandley Quaker Meeting House, one of only a small number of such meeting houses in Cheshire. The first meeting house was built in 1726 and still stands today, but a larger replacement meeting house was built in 1880. The first meeting house now houses the Antrobus Pre-School Nursery.

Methodism

Antrobus' most modern church is a Methodist chapel in the hamlet of Grandsire's Green. The chapel was opened in 1936 and sits at the junction of Brow Lane and Barber's Lane. It forms a part of the Sankey Valley Methodist circuit.

References

External links

Antrobus
at

GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

* {{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire